You only have one chance to make a first impression
LINKEDIN | #americomtips
5 steps to optimize your personal and company brand, your presence and your network
Just like you wouldn't hand out an incomplete business card, your LinkedIn profile and your LI company page should reflect your corporate image and make an excellent, professional first impression.
LinkedIn is the world's leading B2B and B2C networking and marketing platform for professionals and it is booming. Worldwide there are now over 673 million LI users. With work-from-home directives it plays a more important role than ever before.
LI is a fantastic place to easily search, find, connect, meet and converse with people in your target market, establishing a far-reaching network, developing your brand and creating interest for you and your company's services, driving traffic to your website and developing and nurturing relationships.
A very powerful and respected tool, LI should be used to its full potential. A great thing about LI? It's free! Free exposure. Free impressions. Free content publication. Free high quality leads to grow your business. You just need to use it consistently and efficiently.
There is not an easier way to get in direct contact with potential business partners and clients and generate leads...especially in the United States and Canada.
I have been working intensively with LI for seven years and in the course of time I have learned all the ways and means and tips and tricks to make your brand, presence, connections and lead generation on LI successful...in a highly efficient way.
Step 1 - LinkedIn Profile
An excellent first impression starts with your LI profile...and those of your co-workers.
A custom LI profile URL (getting rid of the numbers after your name) and LI QR code button, which you can use in your emails etc.
Company logo/image and/or call to action as the header image according to your preferences
Good quality photograph, add a colored ring or solid background for more attention
Video feature for a short introduction
Gender designation feature or use it for a short greeting
Pronunciation feature to pronounce your name correctly, adding a short introduction
Complete contact info for easy access
"Providing services" section - Services page includes a Proposal request
Attractive descriptions and summaries with SEO-optimized keywords
Include features, your website, images, documents, videos etc. showing your expertise and thought leadership in your niche
Correct Settings & Privacy (e.g. not showing your competition alongside your profile)
Following appropriate companies, groups, and hashtags
Joining appropriate groups
Step 2 - LinkedIn Page | Group
Company Pages are pivotal for promoting your firm on LI. Your Page is a brand positioning tool and you need a Page in order to carry out paid LinkedIn advertising should you decide to do so.
Create/optimize your LI Page
Activate the lead generation feature
Create showcase pages when appropriate (e.g. posts in different languages, different areas of business)
Invite your connections to follow your Page and build your followers
Provide content for your Page updates
Write LI article as your Page
Create a Newsletter as your Page
Create your LI Group, if desired
Step 3 - LinkedIn Content
Creating and posting valuable and engaging content on LI regularly will establish you and your company as a thought leader in your area of expertise and increase your visibility, creating awareness about what you do and how you do it. You can post from your personal profile, your company page, or your company group. Knowing the LinkedIn algorithm helps to optimize results.
Setting engagement targets, delivering value, maintaining a steady posting cadence
Posts: Information, news, ads, images, animated gifs, videos, pdfs, carousel pdfs, case studies, infographics, webinars etc.
Videos: When on LI, members are in a professional mindset, which makes them more receptive to business messaging — especially in video format
Events
Articles: Long form content on relevant topics underlining your expertise
Newsletter: On a daily, weekly, or monthly basis
Post presentations, brochures as pdfs
E-book
Likes and Comments to posts and articles: Taking part in conversations and getting yourself better known as an expert in your field
Likes and Comments to posts and articles by your company page: Attracting attention to your company page
Use appropriate hashtags in your content/posts
Step 4 - LinkedIn Lead Generation
Research and selection of appropriate people to connect with
Personalized connection requests
Personalized responses to welcome your new LI connections including a link leading to a dedicated landing page on your website, drawing them into your website immediately
Personalized follow ups with a link to your article on LI which underscores your expertise and services including a call to action
Sending ongoing information and news
Convert LI contacts to email contacts
Maintaining a status list of LI contacts
LI Sales Navigator may also be implemented
Step 5 - LinkedIn Advertising
There are many forms of paid advertising available on LinkedIn and a marketing campaign can be designed and implemented, getting the attention of your preferred target groups and locations. Sponsored content, sponsored InMails, and text ads are directed to your selected audience.
LinkedIn Online/In house Training for DIYs
DIY (do-it-yourself): You and your team can profit from an in-house or remote LI training, learning all the tips and tricks to maximize your LI presence on your own.
Extra Bonus for Swiss SEC-registered investment advisors
By leveraging my posts and articles in my role as Founder and CEO of the Swiss directory AW✚SWITZERLAND, (as well as the company page and group), you get a turbocharge on developing your brand to my increasing number of over 12,500 followers on LI, predominantly in the US and Canada (HNWI and UHNWI advisors, estate planners, home offices, lawyers, asset protection experts, trusts, CFPs, CFAs, international tax specialists, entrepreneurs, affluent individuals, families, and many more).
Commenting regularly on my posts and articles (#awswitzerland), which receive hundreds and thousands of views daily, increases the awareness of your brand.